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Shipping a US car to the Europe

Hi guys,

I am looking for a spot of advice. I'm planning on taking my car to Europe for the summer as we have a holiday planned - which has some awesome driving potential. I'll then be shipping it back later in the year.

The rates for shipping seem pretty reasonable. However I'm being asked to temporarily import the vehicle into the UK. This is a bit painful as the shippers are indicating that I'll have to pay 25% of the value of the vehicle - which I'll get refunded on leaving.

Does anybody have any experience of doing this? And as a side question... I know front number plates are required in the UK - however they are not required in Florida does any one know if you can drive a foreign car in the UK without a front plate?

carl, i just shipped my US bought Z8 to Europe (i live in the Netherlands). I think you are allowed to drive on your US plates here in Europe as i see many US military who are based in Europe driving around in their US plated cars. Maybe you can check with your insurance. On the shipping itself, this was not expensive. What in the end turned out to be expensive was insurance during the transport, this was not covered by normal car insurance and ended up around $4000 while the transport itself was less then $2000

Hagerty, through their London office, offers overseas cargo shipping insurance at significantly lower rates than what is offered by the shipping agents. You may want to contact Rick Worm ([email protected]) who is the specialist in this department.

When I shipped a car to Europe, I got the authorization to drive it for up 6 months (tourist entry). No tax deposit, no bond. Before leaving the US, I had a front license plate made by these people: http://www.licenseplates.tv/. The plates are not official, but who cares.